DetailsIM

Started thinking about going away for this years Christmas and New Years (we always stay local). Where has your favorite Christmas / New Years trip been? Currently I am researching Hong Kong for the trip (eyeing up The Peninsula). The fireworks display over the Harbor looks amazing.

KI-NRT

Our travel dates are largely dictated by Mrs. KI-NRT's availability - she is a teacher, so we generally take shorter, "getaway" trips during Spring Break and Thanksgiving and long-haul vacations during Summer and the Winter holidays.

We absolutely get out over Xmas & New Year. Yes, it's peak season almost everywhere, it can get really expensive, and not the best time to visit some places (such as Africa and up North.) But that's what we have to work with... and we can forget about upgrades as well.

We don't usually do city trips during this time - way too packed. We choose locations/properties that are limited in tourist #s by the number of rooms. For instance, in Botswana camps, even if all of them are fully booked you're still going to get a pretty good wilderness experience since there's only a finite # of people that can be there at one time.

ajeleonard

I've found places with large public events are good for a traveller at New Year, e.g. Sydney and Rio. Places where hotels have mandatory "banquets" or the like are not so great

LM225

Yep. I'm captive to my wife's academic calendar, so Christmas/NYE is one of the few breaks we get of any real length.

My favorite holiday trips have been to:

1) Beach destinations, with the understanding that (a) we'll be paying obscene rates relative to other periods, (b) it's important for us to find properties during this time that won't feel crowded (i.e. small properties with no kids; this past Christmas we spent at The Caves in Negril).

2) Festive European cities; we love European Christmas markets, and have had wonderful Christmas holidays in Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Salzburg, etc... Paris, of course, is magical at this time too.

Kagehitokiri

it is low season in quite a few places, even including parts of europe
and for example most amans only added holiday rates after 2014 acquisition

re cities, fireworks, etc - sydney has come up here (was IC or SL best view?)

independent properties often have premiums that are not as high as FS etc

HGOLI

In the 90's I went to Beijing for Christmas, spent Christmas Day on the Great Wall, and Christmas Eve visitng Mao Tse-tung (or Zedong if you prefer) in his Mausoleum! Another holiday was spent in Kota Kinabalu.

One of the best, again in the mid 90's was Hong Kong for Chinese New Year. And the trip was't even planned for that specifically. Fireworks were great, as were the parades. What a bonus. Then off we went to Saigon.

I love going away at Christmas, my objective was always to get away from western culture, and I did! Don't go away now, have 2 cats, and putting them in the cattery over Christmas/New Year would probably cost more than 2 people going away!

DetailsIM

lol - luckily we have friends that check-in on our cats.

Pierre&Cédric

This year we were at the Bvlgari London and last year at Amanjena (swimming in your own heated pool on December 31st was great). There is a special atmosphere that we love even if value is average considering premium prices.

financialhippie

Haven't ever traveled over the holidays, but Christmas markets in Germany, Austria, etc. are on the list!

Pausanias

My wife and I both enjoy taking long Christmas/New Year breaks and think cruises are the best option, especially cruises on small, expedition ships. Thus we have spent Christmas Day on uninhabited Curieuse island in the Seychelles, a remote island in the Solomons, and Tristan da Cunha in the south Atlantic where the entire population gave us a carol concert. That was an amazing experience -

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/up70mm/6699685403/in/photolist-bd1sLi-bdE4fx-baBsTD-bemV5c-ben5Cr-bekp4g-bemfQR-bemL1a-bemo2P-ben44p-bemiBt-bekqmc-bcxoyp-bd5FMk-bcE1DD-bdEsW2-bd59p8-bboeRr-bcD584-bcxkMa-bd5EuP-bcDb3i-bd7816-bd5AXk-bdMC4D-bcxgtv-bdE5NP-bd6F7X-bd6FYR-bd2Fbk-bcDnzz-bajvR8-bajmxX-bd2EDX-bd2D4i-baBmsB-baBDWt-baBsFn-bbo9Ki-bgKzci-bekLPv-bekQy2-beUyBK-bekB3k-bekUce-bffxEn-bekFJg-bekXMF-bemzbB-bem8wX" title="Tristan da Cunha"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7167/6699685403_5db8b920de_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="Tristan da Cunha"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

MacMyDay

I don't care for New Years, but I always go away for Christmas. I only started traveling in the first place as my job becomes very boring over the Christmas period, so I figured I'd go do something. Then I got a bit carried away and started going away all the time. Even though prices will increase everywhere I go, I'm still not prepared to go to certain resorts where the price between the 19th Dec and 20th can be 2-3x more, e.g. The Maldives. I tend to go away from around the 13th/14th December, stay at the resorts before the minimum 7/10 night stay kicks in and the prices go nuts, then head onto other places of interest nearby.

My last 6 Christmas Days I've spent in:

• Amanpulo
• The Siam, Bangkok
• Amansara
• Amandari
• The Berkeley, London
• Mandarin Oriental, Miami

FlyerEC

Well , we are usually home for CHRISTmas with octogenarian parents .
However , in the recent past like last NY ( Pacific ) & CHRISTmas ( on the Atlantic ) before we sort of took a leap of " whatever FTers often do " & instead were cruising .
None of us had been round the Horn before & many places in including pre cruise to Iguassu Falls . Falkland Islands was one tendering stop too .
Rather memorable as we celebrated with friends .

We have been to Amano'i & Pulo , other Amans after NY as they tend to be at 100 % over the holidays as
MacMyDay recently discovered ( plus that maverick typhoon ) ..
So we stay just after the " peak " of peak .
What we were just told though , that the Bali Amans were only busy NY but relatively quiet week before

Ericka

We don't live near our families, so CHRISTmas and NY are a time to travel to them. It doesn't sound like we're missing much though based on the stories of higher rates and hotels at full capacity.

scubadu

Yes.

Regards

DSI

On Christmas day we bought tickets/made reservations for a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando leaving some twelve hours later. The ticket prices for the fast track, which are dynamic, were insane, but it was fun. Stayed at our very first Hyatt, too.

Two years ago we went to the St. Regis Kauai and there were tons and tons and tons of A-list celebrities. I thought it was cool meeting them, having conversations in the hot tub, passing them plates at the buffet, etc... For me, this was reason enough to pay the high rates.